


Understanding

by iheartyoshi



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-11 08:02:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3320054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iheartyoshi/pseuds/iheartyoshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set between the 3 year gap as we view the point of views through Asami and Korra's eyes. Continuing this and hopefully trying to upload it every week or so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic for this ship and my god, I’m a terrible writer. But I felt like writing about how they felt in their absence. Granted, I can’t really explain well nor am I good with portraying their personalities correctly, but it was something I wanted to write since I love them so much. Not sure if I wanna keep this as a one-shot or keep going with this. I posted this on fanfic.net, but edited a lot of grammar mistakes. If there are still some, I greatly apologize. I was never really good with English nor am I good at writing.

**Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belong to Bryke.**

 

"Get well soon, Korra," she softly whispered to herself as she slowly put her head down on her messy desk riddled with projects of massive structures.

 

Asami could barely sleep, could barely think, and could barely eat; however, the thought of Korra had kept her at ease. She had been swamped with projects here and there on rebuilding Republic City into a better place—she needed something else to think about. The only thing on her mind was the last farewell she said to Korra.

 

"Goodbye Korra!" she remembered what she had said. As well as a "I’ll miss you" under her breath.

 

She let out a huge sigh as she shook her head, trying to stop from remembering any further. If only, if only… She had only wished she had taken care of her.

 

"It’s for the best that she figures herself out first. I shouldn’t be so selfish—besides, I need to get these projects done so that the people… And Korra would be proud of me," she told herself. She shook her head at the various ways she could tell her feelings for Korra once she comes back to Republic City, but none of them felt appropriate at the moment. Especially since the trauma the Avatar had gone through. The engineer went back onto her duties and planned on finishing one more project… And possibly a letter before she went to sleep.

 

—————-

 

"Dear Korra, I miss you! It’s not the same in Republic City without you. How are you feeling? Things are going well here. I just got a big contract to help redesign the city’s infrastructure, so I’ll be keeping pretty busy for a while."

 

Korra read her dear friend’s letter as well as many other heartfelt letters. But for some reason, this letter from Asami struck her the most.

 

"I wish I could say the same, Asami. But nothing I ever do is right…" Korra buried her face in her hands and let out a sad groan.

 

_Why can’t I be well already! I want to get back in the action and save people! The people need_ _me… But I can’t even help myself…_

 

She let out a soft cry. The Avatar wasn’t sure if she needed comfort from people after reading such wonderful letters. But she knew she couldn’t face them. Especially not in the condition she’s in.

 

_It’s already been a while and I still haven’t recovered? Why do I have to go through this? Why,_ _why, why!_

 

She wished that she could spew all her feelings to someone, but she wasn’t sure who. Nor could she say how she actually felt about her condition. There was just too much going on within her.

 

The Avatar let out an uneasy sigh. She couldn’t handle not being alone but at the same time, she knew she couldn’t show her tragic self to the world just yet. She was too vulnerable and too scared for people to understand her.

 

_Maybe Asami… Maybe she’ll listen to me._

 

Korra grabbed a pen and scribbled some words on a piece of paper. She scribbled, crumpled, and rewrote and scribbled, crumpled, and rewrote until she gave up trying to rewrite the letter to Asami. Korra decided to write whatever came to mind, instead. She poured out her heart on a new piece of paper, hoping that she made sense of what she was saying so that Asami could understand.

 

 _Please understand…_ Korra kept repeating to herself.

 

As she wrote the last few words of her letter, she had second thoughts about just throwing it all away together. But for some reason… For some odd reason, Korra felt the need to send this letter to Asami. And only to Asami. She was quite confused as to why she strongly felt the need to send it as well. Korra immediately thought things over and over. It’s probably the amount of noodles she ate that’s been making her crazy.

 

 _No, no._ She disagreed with herself. _I feel like there’s something… Something I’m not understanding here._

 

Korra walked to her somewhat comfy bed and plopped herself face-down with her face on her pillow. She made a disgruntled look and was so confused of what she was feeling at the moment.

 

_I mean, come on. We’re just friends. But why do I get the feeling that she’s the only one who_ _really understands me?_

 

She looked back into her memories and let out her trademark crooked grin. The day she met Asami was the day she wanted to roll her eyes into a different dimension. She giggled. How things have definitely changed. Korra started reminiscing the first few moments. Granted, they weren’t really nice since the Avatar was “in love” with Mako, but Korra started understanding that her friendship with Asami was definitely different. Every moment she spent with Asami was always a rejuvenating experience. From the time when Asami taught her how to drive to the time when she lifted Mako into the air with her airbending which made Asami laugh to the time when they were kicking some bandits’ asses and many more memories.

 

But there was a certain memory she overlooked. A certain memory that felt really fuzzy. It was before Jinora’s ceremony and Korra really tried to remember what had happened that day.

 

“Nobody expects you to bounce back right away,” she remembered vaguely of what Asami had said. She tried to remember what else Asami had said, but this had struck her just now. Korra didn’t realize how genuinely thoughtful Asami was. Well, she knew that Asami was one of the most caring friends she has. But it was something about that sentence that made her feel… Understood. Korra’s heart leapt. And it was a very different, yet great feeling.

 

 _What does this all mean?_ She tried to figure out what was happening. But more importantly, she was trying really hard to remember what her best friend had said to her.

 

“…I’m here for you if you ever want to talk, or anything…”

 

She remembered now. She remembered how much Asami had cared. She even remembered the way Asami's eyes fell when she had said, “or anything.” Korra gently punched her head and made a face of which said, “wow, I’m a huge idiot.”

 

It was just so hazy to her. But Korra remembered that she couldn’t really comprehend what was going on at the time since there were too many depressing thoughts filling up her brain. She felt guilty that she just realized what Asami said and meant until now.

 

_I’m such an idiot. How could I have not seen that?_

 

Suddenly, a rush of emotions stirred within Korra’s heart. She felt so confused, but also happy, guilty, sad, mad, and probably—

 

_No, that can’t be. I mean, we’re just friends. She probably doesn’t feel the same way as me._

 

But did it really look like that from the surface? Was there truly something more? What did this all mean?

 

She felt like ripping her pillow apart from the frustration and realization of her feelings. Her heart leapt over and over as if she were falling in—

 

 _No, no, no._ She shook her head. _No, no, no. I’m pretty sure we’re just really good friends. There_ _can’t be anything more._

 

Korra just sighed, but it didn’t really help her situation. She still felt her heart melting and her thoughts racing. All she could do now is lock up her feelings.

 

 _But what if…_ She paused. _What if she actually feels the same way?_

 

She let out a groan of frustration and threw her fists at the sky. If only had she known sooner. Korra kept flopping about on her bed when exhaustion ran through her body.

 

“I probably shouldn’t get too overworked on this. But I do know one thing.” She stared at the ceiling and breathed deeply. “I think… I think I lov—”

 

She shook her head, stood up from her bed to walk to her desk, and sealed the letter that she had written earlier. She was too tired to think of anything else and finally went back to bed.

 

“I hope she’s alright,” she whispered softly as she closed her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Asami looked out President Raiko's window. Today was the middle of the month which is when they usually set up their meetings to discuss their plans on reconstructions. He was muttering some words, but she certainly wasn't paying attention to most of what he was saying. Instead, the hopeful engineer observed the recent construction happening around Republic City.

It had been two years since Korra left and Asami felt that Republic City was taking shape. But there was one project that she was eager for her friend to see once she comes back.

 _I hope Korra enjoys the park I built for her,_  she sighed happily.  _She deserves all the recognition for what she went through and how much she's helped shape the world. Welcoming new airbenders, uniting the spirit world with the material world…_ But then Asami remembered what also happened. She remembered the awful day that the Avatar fought with Zaheer; the day that Asami had realized that if Korra was indeed gone from this earth, Asami's heart wouldn't take it; and also the day that she fully recognized her truest feelings for Korra.

 _I hope you're feeling better. Just.._ she thought to herself.  _Just get well soon, okay?_  She looked down at what was a makeshift statue of an eventual Korra. It gave Asami hope that when all of this construction would finish, she would ultimately have the courage to tell Korra her true feelings.

_I'll wait. No matter how long it takes. Just get well soon and focus on yourself. But I just wish you would tell me how you're doing. It'd be nice to at least hear from you._

Asami wiped a small tear that was about to roll down her cheek.

"Asami, are you listening to me?" President Raiko snapped her out of her line of thinking.

"Oh-Oh! I'm quite sorry, President Raiko.. It's just-"

"Are you okay? Did you need some time off from working on the projects?"

"Spirits no! I'm fine. I just had some thoughts about the Avatar and what her current status is."

"Well, if you only paid attention to me, you would have heard that I just received a message from Korra that was for your eyes only."

"Wait… From Korra? Why was the letter sent to you?"

"Well, it was probably the fact that you were working too hard on your projects that one of my advisors went to check up on you. One of them noticed that your mailbox was full and decided to hand it to you, but you declined. You probably weren't given the details of what was in the mail that you were about to recieve. I know this might sound odd, but they decided to deliver it to me so that I may give it to you."

"Very odd indeed, but I'm very grateful for you to do this. I stopped checking my mailbox last month because I wasn't sure if I was going to get any response from… our Avatar."

"Ah, don't worry," President Raiko shuffled through his desk trying to find out where the letter was hidden, "A-ha! here it is. It's only a week old from when it was sent to your house. Here you go."

Raiko handed her the unopened letter and Asami gave a little bow.

"Thank you sir. Now, I'll be on my wa-"

"Ah, ah, ah. Ms. Sato, I want you to think about what I said."

"Erm- come again?" the genius blushed. "I'm sorry I haven't been myself the past few days, so I might have not heard every word you said."

Raiko rolled his eyes and said, "Just go take a break Ms. Sato and work on your projects when you're in good health. Also make sure to read what Avatar Korra sent you."

"Th-thank you sir! I'll definitely make it up to you."

"Yeah, yeah. Now run along and please take care of yourself."

"I will!" Asami's shout trailed off as she ran out the president's office. She was too excited to understand what was going on. All she could think of was what was in Korra's letter…

Asami quickly arrived to her room and quietly sealed the door shut. She looked down onto the letter that was intended for her and it made her heart flutter.

She opened the week-old letter and took a giant breath. She unfolded the pages and read on.

"Dear Asami, I'm sorry I haven't written to you sooner, but every time I've tried, I never knew what to say. The past two years have been the hardest of my life. Even though I can get around just fine now, I still can't go into the Avatar State. I keep having visions of Zaheer, and what happened that day. Katara thinks a lot of this is in my head, so I've been meditating a lot, but sometimes I worry that I'll never fully recover. Please don't tell Mako and Bolin I wrote to you and not them. I don't want to hurt their feelings, but it's easier to tell you about this stuff. I don't think they'd understand…"

The note ended there without any warning, but the fact that Korra finally sent her a letter all these years had brought tears upon Asami's eyes. Nonetheless, this letter was only addressed for Asami. She felt a rush of emotions: joy, sadness, sympathy, compassion, but mostly worry. She worried so much that her heart was about to explode and she wanted to see Korra now. But she knew that she couldn't throw herself upon Korra. She knew that Korra's recovery was more important than anything. But Asami felt like being a part of her recovery… She wanted her to get better as soon as she can. But she knew in her heart that all she could do for Korra was be there for her. She couldn't fully understand how it must have felt when the Avatar was faced with not only Zaheer, but also the events leading up to Zaheer. The burden of becoming the Avatar, being a world leader, facing other enemies such as Amon and Unalaq, being the bridge between the spirits and the people…

_Asami! Get it together. You need to be strong for Korra._

She knew her conscience was right. Korra had been so strong for everyone that the turmoil that she went through had a giant toll on her recovery process. Asami wiped her eyes and patted her face in order to snap back into reality.

_Just be patient, Asami._

But how could she? She was so worried for her  _friend_ , the one she loved so dearly. No, she wasn't just a friend. Korra was more than that, but she knew that she didn't want to burden Korra with her feelings. But when Asami kept these feelings in her chest, the pain started to swell. Waiting and waiting kept her up at night, so she drowned herself upon projects and projects in order to mute that pain. She even wrote letters that she was too reluctant to send because she felt that she was either getting too hasty or--dare she say--clingy for her. Asami valued Korra's personal space. She knew that the Avatar is just as human as she was.

_What am I going to do? Do I just keep waiting?_

She felt like going to the Southern Water Tribe, running into Korra's bedroom, and holding Korra in her arms. However, Asami just let out a big sigh of uneasiness and desperation.

_No. Asami, just be strong. You've got to help shape this world, too. It's what Korra would have wanted._

She jumped onto her own bed and stayed slumped on it for a while. She then figured that it would be best to stay strong.

_For her. It's for her._

Exhaustion caught onto Asami's eyes and she eventually fell into a deep sleep that was long deserved.


End file.
